Sony has released another video showing off what magic tricks the Vita can do with a camera and few cards placed on a tabletop.

The gameplay demonstration below shows off two titles, Fireworks and Cliff Diving, both of which will be available for download when the Vita hits stores on February 22.

Check it out:

Related Posts:

• Ten minutes of Uncharted: Golden Abyss footage
• No UMD Passport for US Vita owners

Apple’s seemingly deleted a selection of suspect iOS games from the App Store, which look to be duplicating popular game designs.

The US and UK App Stores have removed rip-off apps such as Plant vs Zombie, Angry Ninja Birds and Temple Jump, according to Develop.

Many of the clones were developed by indie coder Anton Sinelnikov, who’s now had 61 of his 70 creations deleted.

Some of these plagiarised apps had managed to sell their way to the top of the App Store chart, it’s claimed, though there’s no explanation from Apple on how they managed to get approved in the first place.

The issue of game ‘cloning’ on the iPhone and iPad store was raised last week, when a pair of developers accused mobile giant Zynga of copying their successful titles.

Related Posts:

• Wii U getting full app store – report
• Have you warmed to iOS gaming in 2011?

You’ve saved up, endured all the trailers, found the best price on your much hankered-for new game and then WHAM. Some 13-year-old Halo whizzkid kills you in the first ten seconds.

We’ve done the rounds of the Huffington Post office gamers, and come up with our list of most hellishly frustrating games and gaming moments.

Halo is one of the single most frustrating games. Play on the lower levels and a good gamer can get through, no trouble. Max it to “Evolved” and multi-player online and you’re toast – usually quite quickly, by some young punk 20 years your junior.

Levelling up in a role play game and then dying randomly before you can save is a major frustration. Hi, RuneScape. Why bother accumulating all that guff?

F1 2011 is meant to be a great game. But all too often you aim for a great result, and employ a great strategy, only for a competitor to have a crash into you and take you out. So annoying!

Okami is a lovely game with super cute characters. But we’ve never got more than three quarters of the way through because there’s a bug that just kills you randomly. Who knows what the last quarter of this game looks like? We’ve never gone back.

PC gamers are meant to be the hardcore elite. So when we’ve thought ‘hmm, I’ll stop being so softcore and buy the PC version’ only to find OUR PC IS NOT POWERFUL ENOUGH, that just makes us swing straight back to console. Monkey Ball on Wii never let us down.

Being frustrated by levels, silly bugs and unnecessary deaths are not new. But failing because of bandwidth is.

The rise in online gaming through services like OnLive are fine, but if you live in the Brecon Beacons and you want to play, you may as well take a shortcut to punching the wall and leave the machine alone.

Old games are good – for irritation. Who hasn’t had a nervous breakdown playing this underwater level in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

We haven’t for some years though. And looking at its quaint old-school design now just makes us feel nostalgic – even for the pain.

Our bonus frustration, making this a sneaky top nine is FIFA. Anyone who has put any time into that game will attest to the frustration when your players randomly smash into each other to let the opposition striker through to score. The blood still boils.

Naturally, this list just grows and grows. I think we’ll be adding to it in the future. What is your most annoying gaming moment or most frustrating game?

Related Posts:

• The Xbox 360 Elite “must Buy Extras”
• Playstation 2 Vs. Xbox 360 Review

When MindJolt SGN abandoned their (fluff)Friends game, an entire community of players was left dazed and confused. They weren’t entirely sure what to believe – they’d been lied to, subjected to half-truths and corporate spin, and certain issues were never resolved.

They’d been told that rumours about the closure of the game were merely the result of overreaction and paranoia. The reason for a lack of updates was due to a new artist, and new pets would be available for purchase and adoption the next week. Subscribers who had been waiting for their plush toy for many months to even a year were assured that they’d receive that part of their promised subscriber benefits in the near future.

Days before the impending release of new virtual pets, the announcement was made that the game was now abandoned by the developers. It would remain open so that people could spend the virtual currency that they’d purchased with real money. A global announcement was not made for a good while, and a large amount of players were unaware of this development, whilst the option to purchase virtual currency was still available. After a protest about the unfairness of purchases made without full access to the facts, some players received a refund.

The game soon crashed. Facebook was blamed, despite the fact that all game developers, including MindJolt SGN, had been made aware back in May 2011 that games would have to conform to new Facebook requirements, such as secure browsing, by October 1st. More promises were made – it would be the highest priority of the developers to get the game back up and running. After a lengthy wait, the game was closed completely but a new and “exciting” future of (fluff) was announced – Fluff Friends Rescue.

Fluff Friends Rescue is a completely different game to the original (fluff)Friends. As the name implies, in Fluff Friends Rescue players can rescue pets, nurse them back to health, look after them and find them a new home. The only thing the games have in common is that they’re pet games, and some of the images of Fluff Friends Rescue pets were first created for (fluff)Friends.

That cute little calico that people purchased in the original game can now be rescued in the new one. The black cat with the red ribbon was called the Spirit of Halloween in (fluff)Friends – she was the highest prize in a Halloween event that caused players sleepless nights to complete.

MindJolt SGN were hopeful that the (fluff)Friends gaming community would be excited about their new game, but the players were unimpressed. They’d lost faith in the company. Besides, Fluff Friends Rescue is only available for iPhone and iPad. It can’t be played on the Facebook platform.

This didn’t stop MindJolt SGN from their next questionable move; last week they decided to migrate (fluff)Friends users over to the new game, which added tens of thousands of “likes” to their fan page.

The players of the original (fluff)Friends game were not informed about this move, nor had they given consent. Many, no doubt, are still unaware that they are now showing support for Fluff Friends Rescue. Confused and angry people who questioned the move on the Fluff Friends Rescue fan page had any and all comments removed from the page’s wall. A statement was made by MindJolt SGN representatives that if players did not want to be a part of the future of (fluff), they could simply “unlike” the game, but that didn’t really address the issue.

Some people did “unlike”, only to find themselves showing as “liking” the game again the next day. They’ve been migrated to a game they never opted to install, nor share their private information with. The game they’d been moved to can’t be accessed or played, because it doesn’t actually work on Facebook. It is a vanity move on MindJolt SGN’s part to make Fluff Friends Rescue look more popular than it actually is.

It doesn’t reflect well on the company, and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), who is in a partnership with MindJolt SGN, may not be pleased to learn about the tactics employed. Even though MindJolt SGN claims that “no private information was collected during this migration”, former (fluff)Friends players are discovering that they are now sharing their private information with Fluff Friends Rescue.

Facebook does allow migration, but there are strict rules surrounding any move of “likes”. Here’s how it should work: from 1 February, Facebook will remove all Facebook Application Profile Pages. Developers can create a new fan page and request a transfer of “likes” to this page. The fan page must have the same name as the game it represents, and must be of the product/application category of the relevant game. The transfer of “likes” will allow developers to still publish updates to the users who “like” the game.

What MindJolt SGN has done differs from this in the following ways: they replaced the (fluff)Friends game users had added on Facebook and given permission to access their data to with the Fluff Friends Rescue game they’d never chosen to add. The developers did so without notifying the users and without giving them the opportunity to opt out. Therefore, users are now sharing their data with a game they’ve never played and never had any interest in.

The developers created a fan page with the same name as the new application, and migrated (fluff)Friends’ Profile Page “likes” over to the Fluff Friends Rescue fan page. Technically, this page does have the name of the game it represents, but in practice people were moved game A to game B, not from an old page for game A to a new page for game A. This shows game B as having a lot of support, which might lure anyone interested in game B into thinking it might be a good product if tens of thousands of people have clicked that “like” button.

Though users can remedy the situation by “unliking” the page and removing the application, data has already been shared and not everyone is in the position to remove the game. Amongst those migrated over are (fluff)Friends players who, sadly, have passed away. Their pages remain intact, and their beloved virtual pets remained with them until the game ended. MindJolt SGN may well be unaware of this, but nevertheless, these people are now counted as supporting a completely different game.

Such practices lead to a loss of confidence in companies and Facebook games. People aren’t numbers to move around and manipulate at will. They will speak out and they will move away from companies when they are used and are treated with disrespect. They will also share their experiences with others.

Gamers are clever. They are perfectly able to make up their own minds about what they like and what they don’t. Respect has to be earned, and so does public support, including Facebook “likes”.

Follow Kit Marsters on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JKMarsters

Related Posts:

• PlayStation 3 vs. Xbox 360: Choosing the Best
• Best Nintendo DS Game of 2008

Mojang’s lead developer Jens Bergensten has said he is “looking forward to” big companies making games similar to the fairly unique brick-building adventure, Minecraft.

In a chat with Gamasutra, Bergensten pondered the possibly that Minecraft could have come from a big-budget developer: “No, it would probably be a very different game if at a large company,” he said.

“But I’m kind of looking forward to bigger companies taking on the same kind of genre, if you should call it that. Because I think it could make quite cool games, you know, the sandbox environment,” he added.

Even if a major studio did decide to challenge Minecraft head-on, Bergensten says Mojang’s maintains an advantage in its indie-style community-led approach to development.

“One thing that I like about Mojang is that we’re allowed to communicate directly to everybody. We don’t really have much secrets,” he said.

Related Posts:

• Minecraft: Pocket Edition update responds to fan criticism
• Minecraft skeletons get new AI

Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix is top sports video game, according to a highly scientific poll of gamers who know and like your author.

Crammond beat such titles as the brand new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, the top seller FIFA 2012 or even FIFA World Cup ’98, which in this poll comes in at number six.

FIFA 98: Road to the World Cup was massively popular when it was released, holding onto the number one spot in the UK gaming charts for eleven weeks. That’s never been beaten.

Our arbitrary poll reads:

1: Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix – PC – 1991
2: F1 2011 – Xbox360 – 2011
3: Top Spin – Xbox – 2003
4: Actua Golf 3 – PlayStation 1 – 1998
5: Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2012 The Masters – PlayStation 3 – 2011
6: FIFA 98: Road to the World Cup – PlayStation 1 – 1997
7: Beijing 2008 Olympics – PlayStation 3 – 2008
8: F1 ’97 – PlayStation 1 – 1997
9: Mario Tennis 1990
10: UEFA Champions League 2004-2005 – PlayStation 2 – 2005

Games in this top ten clearly indicate the age of those gamers who twisted your writer’s arm to have them included.

Many younger gamers may not have even been alive when Formula 1 ’97 was released on PlayStation.

There are plenty of rumoured sports games to be released in 2012 for those who’d rather play from the couch, than develop tennis elbow. Grand Slam Tennis 2, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 13, London 2012 Olympics (PS3), F1 2012 are coming up, and Forza 5 may be to.

Sports games still trounce shooter in the the gaming charts. This week’s charts at 16 January 2012 is led by EA’s FIFA 12 which has held pole position got five consecutive weeks unshakeable at the top. It has been there for seven weeks in total.

FIFA is followed by Bethesda’s ‘The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim’ at two, Ubisoft’s ‘Just Dance 3′ at third, Activision’s ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’at four, EA’s ‘Battlefield 3′ in fifth, 505 Games’ ‘Zumba Fitness’ at number six.

‘Saints Row: The Third’ comes in seventh, ‘Zumba Fitness 2′ is in at eight, followed by Ubisoft’s ‘Rayman: Origins’ has found itself at number 9 and Bethesda’s ‘Rage’ holding the wooden spoon in tenth.

What do you think of our top ten sports game list? Outraged that there’s no Tony Hawke on here? Get in touch below.

Related Posts:

• 2012′s Biggest Games
• Top Ten UK Games

We all love games, from huge blockbuster MMOs to simple puzzles. Not everyone has the time or inclination to play the latest hits on a dedicated PC or console, and sometimes even the most hardened gamer just wants to kill some time waiting for a bus. So, here are a handful of well made, fun, and (mostly) free games for your iOS device.

Jetpack Joyride – this side scrolling dodge-everything-and-collect-stuff game is about as simple as it gets. Your little man bursts in from the left in a non-stop rush to get as far as possible. All you do is tap or hold the screen to go up, and release to drop down. A multitude of constantly changing achievements keeps you coming back for more. Free!

Bike Baron – I am reliably informed that this is not an accurate reflection of motorcycle riding in the real world, which I find somewhat disappointing. I love making my mustachioed chap grab get backs and smash pumpkins! Easy to pick up and play when you have a few spare minutes. £0.69

Mini Beasts – A simple, dual stick driving / shooting game that takes place in a variety of microscopic landscapes, from sandwiches to teddy bears. Bright and colourful, the only real let down is the sound, which seems to have been taken from a Sinclair Spectrum. Currently on offer free!

Tiny Heroes – All I really need to say here is “Plants vs. Zombies” and most people will know exactly how this game plays. For those unfamiliar with the massively successful garden and ghoul franchise, Tiny Heroes is a tower defence game. You have a treasure room to protect in a castle, and you get a selection of traps to fend off invading “heroes”. The further you get, the more traps you unlock. This is fantastic fun, with highly addictive gameplay elements. It is also, for me at least, quite frustrating at times. Levels don’t necessarily grow increasingly difficult, but instead can vary wildly. Despite this, I highly recommend getting it, and especially now because it too is on sale for nothing on the iOS store.

Blockwick – This puzzle game sets you the outwardly simple task of trying to get two or more large blue squares to touch one another, by sliding them and other blocks around a fixed maze. It is, in essence, just like those plastic puzzle games where you have a load of squares with one missing so you can slide them around. Simple, satisfying, and with a very relaxing score. And free!

Temple Run – Have you ever been chased out of an ancient temple by a horde of screeching, vicious, bloodthirsty simians? Nope, nor have I. But if you want to get the experience without actually putting yourself in harm’s way, check out Temple Run. A 3D and yet linear high speed platform game, this is similar to Jetpack Joyride. Control your Indy-esque temple robber as he legs it from rather scary beasts, leaping over chasms and ducking under flaming bridges. Run as far as you can before something gets you, and have a blast doing it. Free!

Follow Sam Sheppard on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheSamSheppard

Related Posts:

• Sam Sheppard: Top Five Games for Christmas
• Free Plants Vs Zombie update gives you control of zombies

File-sharing website The Pirate Bay is for the first time hosting downloadable plans of 3D objects, which can be automatically printed at home with the right equipment.

But just hours after launching its new service the website was subject to claims of copyright infringement.

So-called 3D Printers have been available in some form for many years, and recently have begun to fall in cost – making them more easily and more readily available.

The way 3D printers work can vary widely. Some models use a soft plastic to build 3D objects – resin is laid down in thin layers by the printer, and gradually the strands are build up into a 3D form – while other more expensive printers use lasers to cut objects into shape and can make use of a mixture of materials.

In the past 3D printers have been heralded as providing a means for a new, legitimate and sustainable business model for small companies, and many communities of enthusiasts sharing designs and models have sprung up around the web on that basis.

The Pirate Bay is providing a new way for users to share 3D plans and objects, via Magnet Links and Torrents linked to straight from its website.

In a blog post The Pirate Bay said that physical objects (“physibles”) represent “the next step in copying”.

“We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step,” the website said. “We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.

“The benefit to society is huge. No more shipping huge amount of products around the world. No more shipping the broken products back. No more child labour.

“We’ll be able to print food for hungry people. We’ll be able to share not only a recipe, but the full meal. We’ll be able to actually copy that floppy, if we needed one.”

The dangers for businesses are obvious, however. At a time when the fight over copyright infringement of digital music and movies is still in full swing, fighting the piracy of physical objects via the Internet has the potential to open into a legal minefield.

And as soon as the Pirate Bay ‘physibles’ section launched, at least one company appeared to have been made a target.

A model listed by an anonymous user as a ‘Tabletop Wargaming Robot Model’ – but identifiable to the Huffington Post UK as the likeness of a Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Dreadnought, which is a trademarked design of the UK-based Games Workshop Group PLC – was freely available and had already been downloaded by at least 23 people as of press time.

The model, an official version of which costs £28 from Games Workshop, has been previously listed on a 3D printing community website, but the plans were reportedly pulled after a takedown notice was issued.

The Huffington Post UK was not independently able to test whether the available design was that of an actual Warhammer model, or a design ‘inspired’ by the official dreadnought.

In addition Games Workshop said they had no comment, and it was not possible to contact the creator of the design as the plans were listed anonymously.

But even though 3D printers remain a relatively niche interest for now, the prospect of widespread copyright infringement in even 5, 10 or 20 years must still be considered a worrying development. As the Pirate Bay themselves point out:

“We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.”

Music and movies may just be the start. Lawyers, start your engines.

Related Posts:

• Online Game Thief Locked Up In Real Life
• Aishwarya Rai new movies releases trailers youtube video

There was a day when 16 bits were all you needed for a social life. That day was 1988, and the Sega Mega Drive was the number one drawcard to make you most popular kid in school.

Ye olde Sega Mega Drive is now officially king of the retro gaming consoles, while the portable Game Boy rates a mere fifth on the top ten retro gaming consoles chart.

The SEGA console, first released in Japan in 1988, was deemed the top notch nostalgic console by users of gaming website Playr2.com.

1, 411 gamers took part in the poll, all aged 18 and over. Well, you’d have to be to remember most of these consoles.

Respondents to the study were asked to choose, from multiple answers, which games consoles released before the year 2000 they considered to be their favourites.

Simon Kilby, Founder of Playr2.com, said: “The Mega Drive is a deserved winner, and the last leading console we saw from SEGA. Its toe-to-toe battle with the SNES throughout the early ’90s defined console gaming, which is why it’s incredibly surprising to see the SNES so far down the pecking order, relatively speaking.”

See all the top ten in the slideshow below. Which one is your favourite?

#1 Sega Mega Drive

1  of  13

FIRST SLIDE

PREVIOUS SLIDE

NEXT SLIDESHOW

Early ’90s UK ad for Golden Axe in a running series of Sega ads.

READ WHOLE POST

Best Satellite Images Of The Year 2011

Amazing Vintage Space Photos Show Earth From Orbit

Who Is Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom?

Milky Way Lives Up To Its Name: Galaxy Is ‘White As Snow’ (PICTURES)

#factswithoutwikipedia Wikipedia Blackout Turns Into Twitter Meme

Google’s New Offices In London

Early ’90s UK ad for Golden Axe in a running series of Sega ads.

MORE SLIDESHOWS NEXT >   |   < PREV

Best Satellite Images Of The Year 2011

Amazing Vintage Space Photos Show Earth From Orbit

Who Is Megaupload Founder Kim Dotcom?

Milky Way Lives Up To Its Name: Galaxy Is ‘White As Snow’ (PICTURES)

#factswithoutwikipedia Wikipedia Blackout Turns Into Twitter Meme

Google’s New Offices In London

Related Posts:

• Nintendo’s Profits Fall As 3DS Sales Slump
• Angry Birds Second Birthday Game And Cakes Galore – (PHOTOS)

The big blockbuster games are slowly being announced, but there’s a remarkable world of independent games out there vying for your screen time.

Beautiful minmal games like Thomas Was Alone give a completely different gaming experience to the gory first person shooter stylings found in Resident Evil 6 or Halo.

These artful games deliver an aesthetic, and a gameplay, that make for an ideal starting point for “I don’t play computer games” gamers.

If you like lush digital art, then it is hard to resist Botanicula or Wonderputt. These games are beautiful to look at, with ne’er a splatter of blood between them.

Dear Esther is one for the Tim Burton and Japanese ghost folk tale fans, bringing a ghost story to digital life with painterly, subtle rendering.

Iaian Simons, director of the Game City event says independent games are what he’s most excited about in 2012. “I’d love to see someone independent create a Lego game. That would be amazing. Now that doesn’t exist yet, but I do love Fez, Botanicula and Thomas Was Alone.”

Simons, says independent games designer Adam Saltsman is one to watch in 2012: “I love to see the independent studios building up a body of work that really makes a mark, and Adam Saltsman is doing that at the moment. It’s so exciting to see all this emerging talent, it feels like the early eighties out there.”

Saltsman contributed to Fez, one of Simons’ top ten independent games to look out for in 2012.

Season three of GameCityNights starts up on January 26. The nights are a way for gamers and non-gamers to explore videogames culture. Season 3, Episode 1 will take place on January 26 at Antenna, Beck Street, NG1 1EQ. Entry is strictly 18+.

Related Posts:

• ‘Indie Oscars’ shortlist goes live
• 2012′s Biggest Games